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The softness of his hands surprised her. Each touch radiated enough heat to melt the coldness from around her heart. She couldn’t remember it ever being this way. No man, not even her husband, had ever caressed her flesh with such intended passion.

“You want me, don’t you?”

She stared at his mouth. Firm, full, supple lips. They breathed new life into her with each fervent kiss. Was it wrong to want another man when she was married? Instincts told her the answer was clear. She was an adult, not a child. Of course it was wrong.

Still, the word infidelity played at her. It sparked mixed emotions, almost like a dare. It was forbidden. Disrespectful even. Why would she consider it?

He was excruciatingly close, making her body ache.

“What stops you from saying yes?”

His question was a double-edged sword. He knew, as well as she did, what the consequences were. Why was he baiting her? Evelynn shook her head. No. The question was why was she letting him?

As if in answer she held out her hand, her fingers pointing downward. The dim light of the lantern brought out the fine lines across her skin.

He jutted out his chin and looked hard into her eyes. “I am well aware of the piece of jewelry branded around your finger. Tell me, because I’m eager to hear, what does the ring signify for you?”

Eveylnn parted her lips to speak, but nothing came out. She wasn’t ready for serious questions. With a dismissive shrug, she glanced off to the far corner of the barn.

“It means I have someone to answer to.” She looked back at him, their eyes locked in a challenging gaze.

“And do you answer to him?”

Evelynn narrowed her eyes. “Not in the way you are suggesting.”

His brows arched and he crossed his arms. “No? Please. Enlighten me.”

Every nerve in her body was on edge.

She fixed her fists on her hips and tried to summon up a little attitude.

“What I mean is, I don’t do whatever he commands. I am my own person, and I intend to remain unchanged. He may have given me a ring and a new last name, but he hasn’t stripped me of my identity.”

There. She’d said the words. The problem was they weren’t at all true.

“No man ever should take away your identity.”

Her body shook as she realized how close he now stood. “Wh-what?”

“No man should ever make a woman change or take away her self worth.”

Evelynn snorted. He was just a young man, what did he know? “It’s not as simple as you make it out to be. When two people live under the same roof for a long time, under the binding laws of marriage, they change. You give up certain things for one another.”

“I see. In other words they strike a compromise. They find ways to be equals in the household. Am I getting warmer?”

She bit her lip. His presence warmed her entire being. Damn him and his desirable body. There was no way she was going to win here. Not with him less than a foot away, spouting the ideas of what marriage should be like, knowing full well they weren’t the same as her ideals. Her tight fists strained her wrists.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Anything I say you are going to find something to argue about. I should go.”

He reached out, catching a tuft of fabric from her dress. “I’m not trying to argue with you. I only want to understand. I had hoped you would stay a while longer.”

His smile made it clear he would do whatever it took to sway her decision. He moved toward her, closing the distance to the point she could smell the soot in his hair.

“When I look into your beautiful green eyes, I see a tremendous amount of sadness. It will destroy you, if it hasn’t all ready. I see a precious life not being lived to its fullest. You, my dear sweet Evelynn, aren’t some item to be used and discarded on a daily basis. In the time I’ve lived here, I have never seen your husband look at you with the same kind of excitement I feel coursing through my veins. I’ve never even witnessed him touch you with a gentle hand.”

She puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips. “And I suppose you can see through walls?”

He pressed his finger to her lips and shook his head. The feel of his skin sent her mind into a flurry of confusion.

“It breaks my heart to think you have resigned yourself to this dismal way of life. There is a burst of energy inside you waiting to get out. I can see it!”

She laughed nervously and wanted to turn away, but he wouldn’t let her gaze falter.

“You deserve to be loved. I want you to know how it feels to have someone think about you from the moment they wake, until the time they fall asleep, and for every second in between. Let me find a way to put hope into your heart and fire in your belly.”

Shivers crept along her skin as his lips sought out the curvature of her neck – the sweet spot – where the blend of pleasurable and painful tickles drew the very warmth from between her thighs.

He watched her. “Would you deny these very things? Can you honestly say you don’t want me?”

Her lower lip trembled. Where was her voice when she needed it most?

Daniel’s lips brushed against her earlobe, his voice deep and sensuous. “Tell me. I need to hear the words from you. If you want me to leave you alone from now on, I will. But I have to hear it.”